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Empire and Opportunity in Britain, 1763–75 The Prothero Lecture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

P. J. Marshall
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Extract

At the Peace of Paris in 1763 Britain reaped the rewards of a successful war overseas. Great gains were made in North America, die West Indies and West Africa. Two years later Robert Clive signed the treaty of Allahabad by which the Mughal emperor transferred the diwani and widi it effective possession of die huge province of Bengal to the East India Company. No one could doubt the scale of what had been acquired in so short a time in terms of land, people or resources. How these vast gains could be turned to account, by whom and with what consequences, aroused eager anticipation, a well as serious misgivings, as die British state and many private individuals tried to exploit the opportunities opened up by British military prowess. In so doing they revealed much about the strengdis and weaknesses of British overseas expansion in the eighteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 5 , December 1995 , pp. 111 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1995

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